Race to the Edge Epilogues: Total Nightmare
by PutMoneyInThyPurse
Summary: Strictly RttE, no movies. Toothless talks to Hookfang after the events of 'Total Nightmare.'


"Why did you hurt him?"

Things are peaceful on the Edge. The Titanwing has left; the dam is feeding her hatchlings, and finally Toothless has a moment to speak to Hookfang about the events of the past week. Not, of course, without resistance, not to say flat-out denial.

_"I _hurt _him?!" _To Hookfang's credit, he doesn't pretend to misunderstand what Toothless is talking about. "He tried to lock me away!"

_"After _you threw his fish back in his face."

Hookfang flaps his wings. "I didn't feel like eating."

"You humiliated him in the training exercise. Threw him aside."

"There was a distress call! It takes precedence! As Queen, you _know _that!"

"Would he have helped you if you'd let him know what was going on?"

"Huh!" Hookfang bursts into a sudden flame, then tamps it down. He flutters his wings again, fussing with them like he hasn't learned how to fold them in to his sides yet. "He… he…" Hookfang visibly regroups. "He brought her an _eel! _ He tried to poison her! She was terrified!"

Toothless feels his shoulders come up: he didn't know that. Still… "You cannot blame humans for not understanding. Did you even _try _to explain anything to him? Include him in the family?"

Hookfang's scales stand on end. "Why should I?" He looks at a passing bird. "He's not family."

"You're getting more human every day," Toothless remarks, busily washing his face.

"What?" Hookfang's head and neck flame, then subside. "Why?"

"Humans," Toothless licks a paw and scrubs his forehead, "lie."

The orange glow of Hookfang's flame fills the edges of Toothless' vision: he's carefully not looking at Hookfang. "I do not lie!"

Toothless bends his head lower and starts to work on the sheaths of his front claws. "So Snotlout is not family? You don't consider him a brother? More?"

Hookfang shakes his head violently, neck undulating. His flame burns hotter. "I… Toothless-Queen! Why are you asking me this?"

"What did he do when he found you? After you dragged him through the trees and threw him to the ground?"

Hookfang looks away. "That's not fair. You heard him."

Toothless meets Hookfang's eyes. "I did. You rejected him in front of his peers. And all he had to say to you was, "You must be starving. Let's get you back home." Hookfang is silent. "Who in your life cares that much, Hookfang? Who would ignore an injury and repay it with affection and solicitude?"

Like a hatchling, the Nightmare chases his tail for a moment, coming back to face Toothless. "He… he tried to lock me in. Like a common pet."

"On Hiccup's advice. You should have heard how he yelled at Hiccup when he found you gone."

"And he fed her an _eel!"_

"I can't blame him."

"What?!"

"How would _you _feel if Snotlout barricaded himself away from you with a female, and refused to see you or speak to you?"

And then, Toothless wishes he hadn't said it. The raw hurt on Hookfang's face, the anguish in his scent, _abandonment, _is too painful to bear. Hookfang's flame goes out with a _phut _and he shrinks into himself, writhing as if poisoned with dragon-root. Toothless is about to apologize, when Hookfang whispers, "There was no place for thoughts of myself."

Toothless tilts his head to the side, feeling his pupils widen. "I…" Hookfang sounds lost. "I had a duty. She would have been killed, and the hatchlings with her. He…" The great head lowers. "The Titan-Wing already killed their sire. His rival. Her mate." Hookfang draws himself up. "He killed her mate, he would have killed _her, _and then he would have murdered the eggs. I couldn't let that happen. You _know, _Toothless-Queen. You know what happens on this island, you must have heard the battle, and when he was killed and… and the Titan-Wing went for the eggs…"

"I know. I know." Hookfang is visibly distressed, and Toothless moves in for a nuzzle. Hookfang doesn't lower his head, turned away and facing the horizon, so Toohtless nuzzles the base of his neck instead. "You… you felt that you couldn't let her lose her family, even though it cost you yours?"

Hookfang shuffles his feet and busily inspects his tail. "They were _hatchlings, _Toothless-Queen." he sighs, plumes of smoke whooshing from his nostrils. "One dragon's happiness is nothing compared to that of an unborn clutch."

Toothless tilts his head. "You are so much better a dragon than you would have people believe."

Hookfang snorts at that. "I am not." He looks down at Toothless. "You said it first. I hurt my rider."

"He forgives you."

"He should not." Hookfang bursts into flame. "I hit him with an electric eel."

"He forgives you."

The flame burns higher. "He said I had to choose between her and him, and I chose her!"

"He understands."

"I… I _ abandoned _him!"

"He understands."

"I don't _want_ him to understand!" Hookfang roars. "I want him to be mad! Not… not act like a _dam, _asking me if I've eaten! Making sure I'm all _right! _I'm a wild Nightmare, I'm always all right! I don't need anyone to take care of me!"

Toothless lets his gaze soften. "He knows that. It isn't that which makes him want to take care of you, but something else."

"What something else?"

Toothless doesn't answer.

The fight drains out of Hookfang. His flame snuffs out and he collapses in a heap. "How can he forgive me?"

"Do you want me to say it?" Toothless waits for a moment, but there's no response. Finally, softly, with scent more than words, Toothless says, as if imparting a secret, "He loves you, Hookfang."

Hookfang rears up. "No, he doesn't. He'll find another dragon sooner or later. He'll leave me unless I leave him first!"

"Do you know what he said when he thought you had abandoned him?" Toothless asks softly. "You heard it from the cave, didn't you?"

"No. I was inside with the hatchlings much of the time. And you forget that I can't hear as far as you. Queen-Hearing is superior to the others of the flock."

Toothless inclines his head. "Hiccup offered him a choice of dragons. He refused to replace you."

A slight tremor goes through Hookfang's body, but it's quickly controlled. "Probably wanted the power a Nightmare could give him. If Hiccup had offered him a Nightmare—"

"They were all Nightmares," Toothless can't help the slight sharpness in his tone. "All three of them. He rejected them all. Because they weren't you."

Hookfang's pupils widen and he stares, mesmerized. "He rejected Nightmares?"

"Three," Toothless doesn't like to repeat himself like a human, but Hookfang has always tried his patience. "And then, when Hiccup said he couldn't be a dragon rider without a dragon, Snotlout said, "Then I guess I'm not a dragon rider anymore." Then he prepared to return to Berk. By boat."

"By _boat?!" _Hookfang flames up. "That idiot! It's dangerous for a full-size Viking on a proper ship, let alone a little runt like him in a small craft! What was he thinking?! Not be a dragon rider anymore?! What kind of idiocy is—"

"The idiocy," Toothless snaps, "of one who has lost what mattered to him most, and has nothing left."

There's silence for a long moment. Then Hookfang flames out, slumping with a low keen. "What did I do to him?"

"Nothing that can't be fixed," Toothless reassures him. "Just… Go to him. Reassure him. Let him know he's family."

Hookfang blinks, but doesn't deny it this time. With a powerful wingbeat, he's off.

Exhausted, Toothless heads off to find Hiccup. He is really looking forward to being with someone who isn't a muttonhead and who knows how to show love when he feels it. He lets out a trilling call, his signal for Hiccup. His human _better _be close by – he needs one of those arm-circle nuzzles the humans call a 'hug'.


End file.
